Return of the dramatic opening sequence! This one is actually decent, really. Young Ric tries to reach out for various things that catch his attention, but everything is always just out of his grasp. As he grows up, he gives up his fruitless efforts. That is, until Nino reaches out to him.

We haven’t seen Ric’s classroom for a while, but it looks like it’s still alive and kicking. In fact, there’s a new kid on the block. The Amazoness. Ric is as shocked as anyone would be to find a 7 foot tall Amazonian pretending to be a valley girl in his class. To prove he wasn’t crazy that one time, he shows the behemoth of a woman to everyone. Despite being built like a linebacker, her heart is made of glass. She asks Ric out with a text, and is absolutely crushed when he says he has Nino. Of course, she turns around and gives him a flirty death threat (apparently, it’s possible) before skipping away. You know something is off when in the context of Arakawa you can say that she is a WEIRD character.

The next day, the Amazoness comes to class. Her tengu hypnotize Ric into falling in love with her – noticing that her skirt is short and that she’s so…delicate. I was fidgeting in irritation from here on in as I was watching this. <_< Even P-ko is appalled at Ric’s behaviour, and can’t seem to smack any sense into either of them. Ric is convinced that she’s a poor, sickly girl in need of his protection.

P-ko, the gossip girl, runs to Nino to tell her the news. Nino remains nonchalent, confident in the fact that because Ric comes to her for dinner that he still loves her. Her confidence shatters when he shows a bento made for him by “one of his students” and starts talking like a Saitama schoolgirl. Their sickening interactions would make anyone go batty. @_@ Poor Nino.

Do not be fooled. This is not the face of a sane person.

P-ko is a gossiper AND the motherly type, and she quickly gives Nino her best advice. Why not go on a date with Ric to renew their love? Ric promises to pick Nino up at one (which makes Nino ADORABLY happy) and all is well. That is, until one of the tengu notices that the hypnosis is wearing off, and calls him. He tells Ric that the Amazoness has been arrested for shoplifting, using reverse psychology to get his heart pumping with worry. BLEEHHH. RIC, HOW COULD YOU ABANDON NINO!

BAWWWWW NINOOOO-SSAAAANNN!!!

Ric actually ends up MARRYING the shrill-voiced gorilla, so deep in his hypnotism that he actually begs Nino to break up with him!!!! As lame as this joke is by now, Nino FALCON PAWNCHES Ric into oblivion, announcing the extent of her love for Ric. Hoshi watches the battle of the Amazoness and Nino from the shadows, which consists of “who can draw the bigger circle?” Never has a battle in which the two participants wield nothing but sticks been so rousing.

Welcome to the first installment of “Hoshi isn’t a total douchebag sometimes!” Hoshi sees the tengu hypnotizing Ric, and realizes that this is why he’s been acting so weird. The tengu tell him to keep it on the down low. Afterall, it works out for Hoshi now since he can bag Nino now, right? XD He seems a bit stunned at first, almost agreeing with them, but that doesn’t last for long.

Nino wins with sheer endurance. The Amazoness is surprisingly frail, and simply crumples to the ground after a while. The best of the episode happens now. In response to the Amazoness saying Nino should be weaker so Ric will fuss over her, Nino reaches out a hand to her. She says that she is the one who protects Ric because he has asthsma, which noticeably touches her. Meanwhile…Ric hallucinates on the other side of the river. XD

*paws at screen to get at Nino* ;_;

The tengu ask Hoshi to help with their hypnosis song, but he refuses. Ric is fighting a battle of his own in his mind as the Amazoness separates him from Nino and convinces him that he’s happier this way. Even when she makes 100 shadow clones of herself, Ric is still captivated by that just one Nino and forcefully breaks out of the spell. Hoshi kicks Ric, spits on him, tells him to burn, and then leaves. And that ends “Hoshi isn’t a total douchebag sometimes!”

The Amazoness approaches Ric and admits defeat, somehow managing to still look cute in her armour. Then Nino comes and Ric grovels at her feet for forgiveness. Nino forgives him immediately, which I love her for. To make up for it, they get married! Sort of. Kind of. Um…What’s happening here?

Bonus Screencaps:

The gag contest, in which the Mayor makes it so we might not have any more of these for a while.

Dreams. Sometimes, you should keep them to yourself…

My sentiments exactly P-ko. This couple does not deserve to exist.

End Thoughts: They say fangirls become so attached to their favourite pairing, that as soon as some hapless chick gets in the way of it, they will claw that betches eyes out. While I try not to be so..possessive of the couplings of imaginary characters, I was pretty pissed when the Amazoness stole Ric. I was irritated for the entire episode, like seeing a picture that’s not quite aligned properly and wanting to fix it. But it wasn’t fixed until the end of the episode. I REALLY wish they had just made it a half-segment, with the second half being something NOT-Amazoness related. Instead, I had to endure an entire episode of that grating voice. I could barely even enjoy the jokes knowing that Nino was being ignored.

I really did not expect the Amazoness to play that sort of role. I expected her to be a villain but not quite…like this. <_< Why is it that all the new characters so useless? Captain at least mildly develops stuff about Nino’s past by conveniently pointing out stuff, but he spends equally as much time being a washed up manga-ka. The Amazoness has become just a hindrance to me – we don’t need another muscle-woman who is secretly sweet and cute. 8 episodes in and they feel like extra baggage. Let’s hope they do something cool in the last few episodes.

This episode did have a few really nice messages. The whole reaching part in the beginning resurfaced as Nino reached her hand out to the Amazoness. To me, that scene is not so much about Nino protecting Ric…but them protecting each other. There shouldn’t be just one person who supports the other, that’s unfair and selfish. Except, instead of realizing her evil ways, the Amazoness just started training. <_< Derrr…

27 Responses to “Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 08”

I choked so many times when watching this episode OTL. Especially at the part where Ric woke up and when to hug his ‘Nino’, who turned out to be Hoshi.

HOW THE HELL IS AMAZONESS DELICATE. THAT HYPNOTISM IS POWERFUL.

Oh, and Nino asking them to get ‘married’. ‘Marry’ in Japanese is ‘nyuseki’, and I don’t think Nino knows the meaning of that, so she breaks up the word to ‘nyu’ (milk) and ‘seki’ (chair) and join them together to make..Drinking milk on a chair.

~I was seriously disturbed throughout this entire episode |’D I literally had chills; it was just too creepy…
UWAAAHH I ADMIT I ALMOST CRIED WHEN NINO JUST SAT THERE ALL HAPPY LIKE WAITING FOR RIC ;A; I was like, “NINO-SAN I’LL TAKE YOU OUT!<3 ;3;" (Then I'd really be like Hoshi minus the douche-ness LOL I have no idea what I'm saying…I'm really tired x'D)
Also, I love Nino's interpretation of marriage XD

I want to know how to use that hypnotism XD
I dont know about you guys but Nino being jealous
and angry was so cuuuuuttteeeeeee >ㅅ<
since Nino's expression of her feelings are rare to find
i found this episode very pleasing, though it made my
eyes burn with Amazoness XD